


After Alistair

by MirasMirages



Series: Andrew-Kay verse [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Caretaking, Gen, Human Pet, Pet whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:28:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28814154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirasMirages/pseuds/MirasMirages
Summary: After Sky is saved from Alistair, Maya and Aaron has to take care of her.
Series: Andrew-Kay verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119374





	1. Maya

**Author's Note:**

> [ First posted here ](https://whumpymirages.tumblr.com/post/634783468841205760/after-alistair-part-1-maya)
> 
> The Alistair plot was from a role play with [ Savanne ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanne/pseuds/savanne)

The sun had already set as Maya locked the door of the café, wiped down the counter and shut the lights. Now she had to deal with Sky.

Andrew had taken a month off to train a pet for Alistair Malcom, some artist just discovering his questionable tastes. Maya had let him, despite the extra work it meant for her and the other employees, and right now she was seriously starting to regret it. It had been three weeks when today a woman showed up with Sky, Andrew’s own pet. After promising the woman she’d get Sky home safe, Maya had put Sky in one of the café’s private rooms and called Andrew to figure out what was going on, and oh, was that a mess. Andrew had managed to lose the guy he was training for Alistair, then let Alistair have Sky, only for him to lose her. And now Andrew was asking Maya to babysit Sky for a few days. Seriously, after all this he would owe her so many favors. _So_ many.

Grabbing her coat on the way, Maya went to find Sky. Sky was curled up on the floor, her arms wrapped over her head, too tense to be asleep. She hadn’t touched the food Maya had brought her earlier, but the water bowl at least looked a bit less full than it had been.

“Sky?” Maya said, watching Sky tense even more. “Sky, it’s time to leave. Andrew has some things to take care of, so you’re coming home with me today.”

Sky whined, but sat up to kneeling on the floor, and lifted her arms when Maya held up the coat to help Sky put it on. Andrew didn’t let Sky do anything on her own, which was ridiculous, and left her unable to even put on her own clothes. Maya sighed and shook her head, but buttoned the coat for Sky and stroked her hair for a moment. “Ready?” she asked, and picked up the tray with the food Sky didn’t eat and went out of the room, waiting for Sky to follow.

After cleaning up the last plates, Maya took Sky to the car and buckled her into the passenger seat. Sky kept staring at her hands the whole way, not once looking out the windows.

Maya tried not to feel nervous as they took the elevator to the top floor of the apartment building, but it wasn’t easy, since she didn’t know how her husband would react to seeing Sky. She’d sent him a text to warn him, but he wasn’t used to seeing the reality of her work like this. Actually, Maya wasn’t sure if Aaron even knew what her job really was. They had an unspoken agreement not to discuss it - Aaron never asked and Maya never shared - so in theory he could be under the impression that she just owned a normal café. She didn’t think he was that stupid, though. “I want you to act as human as possible,” she told Sky before they left the elevator.

She unlocked the door and followed Sky inside. Aaron looked tired as he came out from the bedroom to meet them. 

“Hi,” he said to Maya, touching her arm in greeting before turning his attention to Sky. "And who’s this?” Maya had already told him, so it was obviously more for Sky’s benefit than his own. 

“This is Sky,” Maya said, taking the coat Sky was wearing and hanging it up. “She’s gonna stay with us tonight, right, Sky?” Sky looked at her feet and didn’t respond.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Aaron smiled, holding a hand out to Sky, trying to meet her eyes. “Nice to meet you, Sky. I’m Aaron.”

Sky glanced up at his hand for a moment before going back to staring at her feet. Aaron’s smile faltered a bit and he shot Maya a questioning look when it became clear Sky wasn’t going to respond. 

“I think I’ll take Sky to the bathroom so she can clean up a little,” Maya finally said. It would give Sky a bit more time to adjust. “Did you make dinner?”

“No, I had a bad day. I was thinking we could order something,” Aaron replied apologetically. He had suffered a head injury not long before they started dating, and was still dealing with the after effects. “I’m feeling a bit better now, though. I could make something simple? Spaghetti?" 

"Yeah, that sounds good,” Maya agreed, and took Sky to the bathroom. She filled the tub and helped Sky undress, then told her to get in the water. Sky was shaking, but obeyed with stiff movements, so Maya didn’t comment, just handed her a washcloth and told her to wash. Sky made a weak attempt at scrubbing her leg, but it clearly didn’t do any good. Instead of waiting for Sky to fail at cleaning herself, Maya took the cloth back and scrubbed Sky down, ignoring the shaking and the flinches. When she was done, she wrapped Sky in a big towel and went to find something clean for her to wear.

When they were finally done, Aaron had boiled pasta and heated sauce from a jar, so Maya had Sky sit on the chair next to her while they ate. Sky argued less than she had expected about having to use furniture, which was a relief. Aaron didn’t say anything when Maya put the cutlery in Sky’s hands, or when Sky just shuffled her food around, not eating more than a mouthful.

Sky looked absolutely exhausted, so Maya took her to the guest room and put her to bed after dinner, before going to talk to Aaron. He deserved a few answers after this, and especially if Maya was going to leave Sky with him tomorrow. Hopefully he would accept whatever explanation she came up with and not ask too many questions. 


	2. Aaron

Aaron turned on the radio and started cooking breakfast. Maya had already left for work, leaving him alone with the girl in the guest room, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about her. Cooking breakfast was easier than thinking about what was going on, and the girl probably needed the extra sleep anyway. 

Sky, was her name. Aaron whisked together a few eggs and put slices of bread in the toaster, remembering the way the girl would only look at her feet, like a scared child. But she was not a child, at least he didn’t think so. She could be in her late teens, or early twenties. He wondered what had happened to her, but she hadn’t said anything, and Maya didn’t know either. From what Maya had said, Sky lived with one of Maya’s employees and had gone missing about a week ago. Aaron didn’t quite understand why Maya had taken her here instead of home, but she probably had her reasons, and he never asked in cases like this. 

When the eggs were scrambled and the bread toasted, Aaron put it all on the dining table and went to wake Sky. He had expected her to be asleep, but when he knocked and opened the door, Sky was kneeling on the floor next to the duvet. The whole situation was unnerving - had she slept on the floor?

“Awake already?” he asked. Sky nodded, not otherwise moving. “Okay, well,” Aaron said, trying his best to ignore how awkward this all was. “Do you want breakfast? I made scrambled eggs." 

Sky nodded and stood, and when Aaron held the door open, she quietly walked out of the room and waited beside him.

"Right,” Aaron mumbled, and led the way to the dining room. “Do you wanna sit here?” he asked when Sky just stood there. She nodded and climbed onto the chair, kneeling there too. It didn’t seem like the kind of behaviour you’d learn from one week, however traumatic, but Aaron was no expert, so he decided to let it go. He filled Sky’s plate before sitting at the other side of the table. 

Breakfast was awkward, with Aaron trying to fill the silence and Sky not responding, just shuffling her food around with her fork. She did take a bite whenever Aaron told her to, but he felt weird, directing her actions like that. It was exhausting and uncomfortable, so after he was done eating he sat Sky in front of the TV, not arguing when she knelt on the floor instead of the couch. He put on a disney movie and went to clean up after breakfast.

He hadn’t thought a disney movie could be a problem, but when Aaron came back to check on her, Sky’s face was wet with tears as she stared blankly into the air, her breath shallow. He hurried to turn off the TV and then sat down beside her. 

“Sky?” he asked, not sure if he should touch her. “Sky, can you look at me? Can you tell me what happened?”

Sky was shaking, and didn’t respond at all. Hesitantly he put a hand on her shoulder, and she hunched in on herself, losing control of the shaking. 

“Is it okay if I touch you?” he asked, even though he already was. Again she didn’t respond. Aaron just hoped he was doing the right thing when he shuffled closer and put an arm around her shoulders.

For a terrifying five seconds he was convinced he’d messed up. Sky was completely tense, not even breathing, but then she turned, grabbed onto his shirt and sobbed against his chest. It wasn’t what he had expected from her at all, and he felt entirely unequipped to handle whatever this was, but there were no one else there.

It felt like she was crying for hours, although it was probably closer to twenty minutes, ten, even, but even as she was getting quieter, Sky didn’t let go of Aaron’s shirt, and the minutes went on, and on.

“Maya told me you live with, uh, Andrew, is that his name?” he asked when the silence was getting too much.

Sky tensed a little, but nodded.

“She said you’re going back soon? Are you looking forward to seeing him again?”

Again, that little pause before her nod. It didn’t feel right.

“Is he… is he nice to you?” Aaron tried. He’d met Andrew before, he’d met everyone working at the café, but he didn’t remember much about him.

Sky nodded again, pushing her face against his chest. Something was wrong. He was sure of it.

“Are you sure?”

New tears fell from her eyes, but she nodded. “Please,” she whispered, the first word he’d heard her say, her voice so full of pain he could hardly stand it. Maybe the questions had been a bad idea, but it was too late now. He had to know.

“What- what does he do to you?” he asked, but this time he got no response. “Uhm, does he, does he hit you?”

Sky hesitated again before she nodded.

“Oh,” was all he could say for a few seconds. Fuck. He had to tell Maya, she wouldn’t send Sky back if she knew about this - right? He kept his arm around Sky, lending whatever comfort he could, while he thought about what else to say, then he asked another question. And then another. Sky would nod and shake her head, but not respond to any complicated questions. Still, as Aaron started asking about things he never could’ve imagined happening, Sky kept replying, and Aaron felt more nauseous than he had in a long time. _Does he let you go outside? Do you have a family? Does Maya know?_

It was exhausting, asking question after question, each one answered by a nod or a shake of the head, and each reply breaking his heart just a little more. He had a headache again, but he couldn’t just leave Sky here, so he kept his arm around her and leaned back against the couch, offering quiet comfort while thinking about the conversation he’d have to have when Maya got home.


	3. Sky

Maya and Aaron were fighting. 

Sky was in the bedroom, curled up on the floor, tense with fear. She had been so, _so_ bad. Andrew would be so very angry when she came back home.

These past few weeks had been exhausting. First Jett had come to stay with her and Andrew, to learn how to be good, but he hadn’t been very good at all, and one day, after Andrew had punished him, Andrew’s friend, Rory, had come to take Jett away. Sky hadn’t really understood, but it had been nice to be alone with Andrew again. He let her sit on his lap and fed her human food from his plate, and it had been nice, until he gave her to Alistair. She still didn’t really understand, but somehow Jett had disappeared and Andrew had told Sky to stay with Alistair for a few days. Alistair’s rules were different from Andrew’s, and it had been so very scary and confusing, and Alistair had told her Andrew wouldn’t get her back, but Andrew had promised! And then that woman had come to cut Sky’s hair, and she had taken Sky with her, and Sky had _let_ her, which was _bad,_ right? And the woman had helped her find Maya, who said she would help her find Andrew, but Maya had taken her to her own home, and there were new rules, and things were different, and everything was so confusing! So when Aaron, the man, had been nice to her and asked her questions, she had told him, and now Aaron was angry, and Maya was angry, and Andrew would be so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so _angry!_

Sky wished she could go back to Andrew, and get whatever punishment he had for her over with, so things could be normal again. Thinking about how he’d punish he made her nauseous, and she wished she could just, just, just stop existing. To not exist would be so much easier. She hugged her arms around her legs and held her breath and pretended she didn’t exist.

Even when she didn’t exist, she could still hear the voices, and then the silence, and then the footsteps. And then the door opening.

“Sky?” Aaron said from the door.

Sky tried not to exist. Aaron came inside and sat down next to her.

“Sky, can you look at me? I need to talk to you about something.”

She still didn’t move, just kept not existing. There was a hand on her back, and she still tried not to exist.

“Maya and I have been talking,” Aaron said, his voice soft and careful. “And we were wondering if you’d like to stay here with us for a while?”

She didn’t exist, she didn’t exist, the hand was warm, she didn’t exist, the words were bad, she didn’t exist.

“You’ll be safe if you stay,” Aaron continued after a while. “You don’t have to go back to Andrew.”

A sound started in her throat. Not go back to Andrew? But he’d be so _angry!_

“It’s okay,” Aaron said, hushing her. “You’re not going back to him.”

The sound grew louder, and Aaron put an arm around her shoulders. How could she not go back to Andrew?

“Maya will take care of it. You’re safe now.”

She didn’t believe him, couldn’t believe him, didn’t want to, couldn’t- didn’t-

~~

She couldn’t remember falling asleep, but the next day she woke up in the bed, her head pounding from crying, and Andrew didn’t come for her.

It was all still scary and confusing, and when she refused to come out from under the blanket, no one punished her, and Andrew didn’t come for her.

Aaron brought food for her that he put on the bedside table, but she didn’t eat. She didn’t move. This didn’t feel real, it wasn’t true, and if she moved she would wake up, and Andrew would come for her, and take her home. But Andrew didn’t come for her.


End file.
